Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK

Scientists: Fossil Is of Feathered Dinosaur

Chinese paleontologists have found the remains of a 121-million-year-old feathered dinosaur, providing what could be the most graphic evidence yet that birds are descended from the prehistoric reptiles. Photographs of the fossilized creature show an unmistakable downy stripe running down its back. If the feathered dinosaur is confirmed, say paleontologists who have seen the fossil, then it provides new evidence that today's birds evolved from dinosaurs. Nobody has ever found feathers on anything other than a bird. So the feathered fossil provides further ammunition for the theory that dinosaurs gave rise to birds.